that point and the main island they have a valuable salt meadow, called Croskaty, with a pond of the same name famous for black ducks.  Hence we must return to Squam, which abounds in clover and herds grass; those who possess it follow no maritime occupation, and therefore neglect nothing that can render it fertile and profitable.  The rest of the undescribed part of the island is open, and serves as a common pasture for their sheep.  To the west of the island is that of Tackanuck, where in the spring their young cattle are driven to feed; it has a few oak bushes and two fresh-water ponds, abounding with teals, brandts, and many other sea fowls, brought to this island by the proximity of their sand banks and shallows; where thousands are seen feeding at low water.  Here they have neither wolves nor foxes; those inhabitants therefore who live out of town, raise with all security as much poultry as they want; their turkeys are very large and excellent.  In summer this climate is extremely pleasant; they are not exposed to the scorching sun of the continent, the heats being tempered by the sea breezes, with which they are perpetually refreshed.  In the winter, however, they pay severely for those advantages; it is extremely cold; the northwest wind, the tyrant of this country, after having escaped from our mountains and forests, free from all impediment in its short passage, blows with redoubled force and renders this island bleak and uncomfortable.  On the other hand, the goodness of their houses, the social hospitality of their firesides, and their good cheer, make them ample amends for the severity of the season; nor are the snows so deep as on the main.  The necessary and unavoidable inactivity of that season, combined with the vegetative rest of nature, force mankind to suspend their toils:  often at this season more than half the inhabitants of the island are at sea, fishing in milder latitudes.

This island, as has been already hinted, appears to be the summit of some huge sandy mountain, affording some acres of dry land for the habitation of man; other submarine ones lie to the southward of this, at different depths and different distances.  This dangerous region is well known to the mariners by the name of Nantucket Shoals:  these are the bulwarks which so powerfully defend this island from the impulse of the mighty ocean, and repel the force of its waves; which, but for the accumulated barriers, would ere now have dissolved its foundations, and torn it in pieces.  These are the banks which afforded to the first inhabitants of Nantucket their daily subsistence, as it was from these shoals that they drew the origin of that wealth which they now possess; and was the school where they first learned how to venture farther, as the fish of their coast receded.  The shores of this island abound with the soft-shelled, the hard-shelled, and the great sea clams, a most nutritious shell-fish.  Their sands, their shallows are covered with them; they multiply so fast, that they are a